Ricky Carmichael sponsor Monster would jump from motorcycle to car with deal

Ginn Racing is finalizing a
deal that is expected to put Ricky Carmichael’s chief Supercross sponsor,
Monster Energy Drink, on the car for his first stock car race this weekend.

When Monster in January
2006 signed a reported two-year deal with Carmichael, widely regarded as the
Michael Jordan of motorcycle racing, its marketers had no idea that he would be
driving a vehicle with four wheels instead of two. But the move to stock car
racing and possibly NASCAR broadens the audience for Monster, the No. 2 energy
drink in sales behind Red Bull.

“What we like is it takes
one of our personalities over to the more mainstream, corporate side of the
world with Ricky’s NASCAR involvement,” said Scott Sepkovic, president and CEO
of Crown Athlete Management Group, the procurement agency for Monster. “We want
to stay on board and follow Ricky.”

Carmichael signed a three-year developmental driver
contract with Ginn Racing in October and will begin his stock car career with a
Late Model race, the sport’s equivalent of Class A rookie ball, on Saturday
night in Lake City, Fla. Carmichael closed his Supercross season last Saturday
in Orlando.

Plans call for Carmichael
to possibly move into NASCAR Craftsman Truck racing later this year.

But without a hard and fast
schedule of races to sell, Ginn Racing is going with more of an a la carte
approach to selling Carmichael’s ride.

“It’s hard to quantify what
we’re doing because it’s not like we can say that there’s 36 races this year,”
said Jay Frye, general manager of Ginn Racing, which fields Nextel Cup entries
for Mark Martin, Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin. “I can tell you, though,
that this Late Model race is going to be the most promoted Late Model race
ever.”